Lurker Deluxe (114 posts) Fri Jan 25, 2013, 01:18 PM
109. Reading this thread
In reading this thread it shows me how many people have absolutely no clue at all about "rural" towns and the life the people in them have.....
There occurred an incident the other day, when a friend of a friend dropped by here. The friend wasn’t with her; she was just checking up on me as a courtesy for her friend. The friend, who’s now a soil scientist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and lives way over on the other side of Nebraska, and this friend of hers are both natives of Maryland, where the friend of the friend still lives; an “urban planner†with some governmental agency.
She’s kind of a pushy, rude person, and an eastern establishment effete to boot; she’s been to Nebraska before, and usually finds something strange about us.
I was sleeping when she came in, and she quite obviously thought it
declasse that I was sleeping in a pair of light grey cotton pants (cuffed) and a tan cotton shirt (short-sleeved).
No shoes or socks, though.
I explained that I’ve been ill (which she already knew), and wished to be presentable in case I have to be carried out to the emergency room or the morgue.
“Well, you should be dressed for bed,†she advised; “pajamas make one presentable.â€
I don’t own pajamas, never have, even as a kid, I replied; “pajamas are decadent.â€
She suggested a bathrobe could cover one‘s underwear, when one gets up.
I don’t own a bathrobe, never have, I replied; “bathrobes are queer.â€
And besides, I added, usually I don’t wear underwear to bed anyway. “Although right now,†I helpfully pointed out, “I’ve got on clean underwear, so that if I end up in the emergency room, I won’t be embarrassed wearing dirty ones.â€
“Well, what do you usually wear to bed?†she asked.
As I said, she’s kind of a, uh, pushy person.
I told her, and she freaked.
Damn uptight easterners. Everything's a cultural shock to them.